Photo: KSP

French Formula 4 champion and Honda junior Taito Kato will move up to Formula Regional with ART Grand Prix in 2025.

Kato was confirmed as French F4 champion just last month after a messy end to his title fight with Yani Stevenheydens in the deciding round at Paul Ricard in October.

Stevenheydens appeared to have claimed the title in the final race, only to later be handed a 10-second penalty that dropped him to 11th in the results and made Kato champion by six points.

The championship outcome was then subject to an appeal by Stevenheydens and the Belgian federation – not against his race three penalty, but countering the overturning of a three-second penalty awarded that had originally been awarded to Kato for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on his way to winning race one. This appeal was ultimately dismissed by the French federation, leaving Kato as the champion.

The 17-year-old Japanese driver will contest the FRegional Middle East Championship with ART at the start of 2025 before embarking on the European series.

“We are delighted to welcome Taito to the team,” said ART boss Sebastien Philippe. “His performance and attitude have impressed us, and we believe he has the potential to deliver great results in both FREC and FRMEC. We are excited to work with him in this crucial phase of his career.”

Honda will send Rintaro Sato, son of former Formula 1 driver and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato, to race in French F4 next year after he was named as winner of the Honda Racing School scholarship. Sato Jr finished eighth in Japanese F4 this season in his first car racing campaign.

Kotaro Shimbara was also chosen as a HRS scholarship winner, as runner-up in the competition, and will drive for Honda Formula Dream Project with B-Max Racing in Japanese F4 in 2025. Shimbara finished third in Japanese F4 this year behind HFDP drivers Yuto Nomura and Ryota Hirachi while driving for Kageyama Racing, having previously competed in the series in 2022. Sho Momose, another HRS graduate, will be his team-mate.

Honda has confirmed that Nomura will step up to Super Formula Lights for HFDP with B-Max Racing.

Elsewhere in FREC, Trident has named Matteo De Palo as its first 2025 signing. The Italian driver came 17th in the points in his rookie season with Sainteloc Racing – with a best finish of fourth – after finishing fifth in Spanish F4 in 2023.

Sainteloc’s first announced driver is Tim Gerhards, who placed 20th in Spanish F4 this year with Monlau Motorsport, while Van Amersfoort Racing has confirmed it will retain Pedro Clerot, who ended his rookie campaign eighth in the points.

The post French F4 champion Taito Kato to race in FRegional with ART GP appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Stephen Bounds

The often glorious and occasionally frustrating 18-year history of European F2 ended at Brands Hatch 40 years ago today. Those on the grid recall what it was like to race in the first of F1’s primary feeder series

Reflecting the series’ decline and fall, the 209th and last European Formula 2 event was brought to a premature end on September 23, 1984 as torrential rain caused havoc around Brands Hatch’s full Grand Prix layout. But after a season of crushing Ralt-Honda dominance, it was perhaps appropriate that in the championship’s final act Philippe Streiff should take a deserved maiden win for underfinanced private constructor AGS, powered by the category-defining engine from BMW.

Formula Scout spoke to some of the protagonists from that day to hear their memories and to understand why the demise of F2 in Europe provoked mixed emotions.

Although the category had been in existence since 1948, with the Formula 1 world championship even being run to F2 regulations in 1952 and 1953, it was not until 1967 that a European championship was established.

Arguably, the period in the late 1960s and early 1970s was European F2’s heyday as F1-experienced names such as Jochen Rindt and Jackie Stewart, designated as non-scoring “graded” drivers, competed against the top junior talent of the day.

By the 1980s, the category and the championship were struggling to maintain both sporting and commercial relevance. Top drivers such as Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet had bypassed F1 by jumping straight from Formula 3 to F1.

Unlike today, races were held separately from F1 events, and the television coverage and spectator attendances were minimal. The calendars comprised of a delightful and eclectic mix of circuits, and the 1984 season featured just two contemporary F1 venues (Brands Hatch and Hockenheim), alongside circuits now relegated to hosting Formula 4 races at best such as Misano and Vallelunga. And four of the 11 rounds were in Britain.

Photo: Roger Gascoigne

It did boast the Mediterranean and Pau grands prix however, and the traditional Easter Monday event at Thruxton which had live television coverage on the BBC. Silverstone’s race awarded the BRDC International Trophy, which had ran for F1 cars only four years prior.

Increased costs and a lack of competition and coverage meant that the writing had been on the wall for some time, and the decision was made to create a new category for 1985. It was to be known as Formula 3000, as cars had three-litre engines.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone had seen an opportunity with the Cosworth DFV units that were becoming obsolete at the top level as 1.5L turbocharged engines took over, and so European F2 came to a sad end after 18 seasons. Japanese F2 followed suite by transitioning into an F3000 series in 1987.

The teams arrived at Brands Hatch with a mix of sadness at European F2’s demise, and relief and anticipation for the new formula. There was a general feeling that the championship and the regulations had simply run out of steam.

The works Ralt-Honda team had dominated in 1984, continuing where it had left off in 1983, with its drivers Mike Thackwell and Roberto Moreno having wrapped up the first two places in the championship long before the paddock arrived in Kent.

With access to the Williams wind tunnel, Ron Tauranac had developed the ultimate chassis for the F2 regulations, the Honda V6-powered Ralt RH6/84, and it had steamrollered the opposition in the hands of its exclusive user: the factory Ralt team.

Of the 10 rounds held before Brands Hatch, Thackwell had won seven and Moreno won two, the only blemish coming at Hockenheim when both cars hit problems, allowing Pascal Fabre’s March-BMW to take victory.

BMW’s M11 engine had been a mainstay of European F2 from the start, bar the 1972 season, with 95 rounds won using its power and every single race in 1975.

Eddie Cheever in 1977

The Bavarian manufacturer entered F1 in 1981, and when it withdrew its F2 works support in 1984 its ageing engine was no longer a match for Honda’s V6. Honda itself was in the first year of its co-operation with Williams, but had prepared the engines in Japan while operational running was entrusted to John Judd.

Dominance by one team or car-engine combination was not unusual in those days of multiple chassis, multiple engine suppliers and a choice of tyres. But whereas March and BMW had always been happy to sell their equipment to customers, Ralt and Honda guarded their exclusivity tightly.

In 1984 there were regularly six of March’s new 842 design on the grid, allied to the BMW engine. Three of those were entered by Onyx Racing, which had F3 graduate Emanuele Pirro and Thierry Tassin [pictured above] fronting its line-up.

Pirro came to the final round on a high after earning his first podium with a second place in the previous race at Donington Park. Now one of motorsport’s busiest sexagenarians, he was then the youngest driver in the F2 field aged 22.

Tassin had been a frontrunner in British F3, before graduating to F2 in 1982. Pole on his fourth appearance on the Nurburgring Nordschleife left an impression, and almost led to a Ligier seat in F1, but the Avon-shod Toleman-Hart became increasingly uncompetitive.

“All of a sudden, we were more than one second off the pace. And the dream of going to Ligier more or less disappeared,” he says without regret.

Tassin was combining his F2 appearances with “driving for BMW in the European Touring Car Championship because I won the Spa 24 Hours in 1983”, the first of four triumphs at the Belgian endurance classic

For the last race they were joined by 42-year-old Derek Bell, reviving his relationship with team boss Mike Earle whose Church Farm Racing team had run Bell to his first European F2 podium back in 1968.

Derek Bell at Brands Hatch

“Mike Earle, who ran Onyx Racing, had worked with me and he lived in our village [Pagham]. So, he asked me to come: ‘DB. You’ve got to come and get this last race, blah, blah blah.’ So I said ‘okay’ and I went along,” Bell told Formula Scout.

His F2 debut had come in 1968’s season-opening round at Hockenheim, in the race that claimed the life of two-time F1 world champion Jim Clark, and his performances early that year caught the attention of Enzo Ferrari who recruited him to race for Ferrari’s own F2 team then handed Bell his F1 debut at September’s Italian Grand Prix.

Bell went on to be 1970 European F2 runner-up, before making his name in sportscars. When he made his F2 return, after 10 years away, he was at the pinnacle of his career as a works Porsche driver with three outright Le Mans 24 Hour wins to his name already.

“It was really strange, he was a driver of another generation, but I always had the utmost respect for Derek, so it was a privilege to hang around with him,” recalls Pirro. “Derek was living just across the road from the team in Bognor Regis so I got to know him.”

Tassin has similar memories of working with Bell: “[He] was very well known, very popular because of his Le Mans wins with Jacky Ickx and so on. It was really a pleasure to have him in the team. He was a really friendly person. And it’s tough when you’re doing endurance racing to be back in F2 with all the young drivers mainly concentrating on single-seaters, but he enjoyed it.”

He also has good memories of taking the F2 car to test at Goodwood, which was not far from Onyx’s base and had held F2 races before the European championship’s creation.

“[Onyx’s base was] near the beach. Goodwood in F2 was quite a track because it’s not really a testing circuit where you can go and avoid to have problem and have escape roads. If you have the slightest problem or you go off, you’re going in the [grass] banking. It was really tough and dangerous to go testing there.”

Thackwell on some fresh Bridgestones

BS Automotive was another team to couple the March 842 with BMW engines, and its line-up was led by fourth-year F2 driver Christian Danner. In addition to the March contingent, the M11 units powered entries from French constructors AGS and Martini as well as the F1-bound Minardi. But those outfits knew they were up against it.

“All the non-Honda teams had a significant disadvantage in 1983 and in ’84,” is Danner’s assessment of those times.

“The Hondas were so much faster than the rest of the field. Years later, when I was developing a Mugen F1 engine and did a lot of testing for Bridgestone in Japan, I was working with the chief engineer of that F2 engine programme, and he told me that that F2 engine, which was a V6, had about 80bhp more than the BMW.”

Pirro agrees: “They were a stronger package, probably more because of the engine. It was definitely a more powerful engine but by how much I don’t know. But the March was a really a very good car.”

Indeed, he goes as far as to say that the March 842 was “one of three best cars I ever drove, with the McLaren MP4-4 [F1 car] and the Audi R8 [Le Mans prototype]”.

To further complicate matters, Bridgestone and Michelin were fighting a tyre war, with all teams except Onyx starting the season on the former. Ralt switched to Bridgestones for the last two rounds in preparation for their use in F3000.

Pirro believes that the Bridgestones weren’t a match for the Michelins, although the Japanese firm was rapidly closing the gap. Indeed, Ralt seemed to lose its advantage initially after switching at Donington.

“The gap between us and the Ralts once they switched to Bridgestones shrunk a lot. And they were not really in another league like they were before. This is why I made the first podium of the of the season on the second last race,” he recalls.

Photo: Roger Gascoigne

However by the finale the Bridgestones seemed to be gaining the edge, aided by a private test at Brands Hatch beforehand

With the title long since decided, the eight rows of cars that lined up on September 23 to contest the Daily Mail Trophy on the circuit’s full Grand Prix layout on September 23 1984 had something else at stake: victory in the final ever European F2 race.

The Ralts filled the front row, with poleman Moreno [pictured above] almost two seconds faster than Pirro in third. Streiff, the quickest Michelin runner, was back on the third row.

Dark clouds loomed overhead, but the race began dry. Moreno fluffed his start, caught out by Brands Hatch’s famous sloping grid, allowing Thackwell to surge into the lead ahead of Pirro and Tassin [pictured top].

Moreno dropped to fourth but quickly disposed of both Marches just as Thackwell pulled off in a plume of smoke, the oil catching out Pirro and Tassin to allow Streiff into second. Just as the Michelin runners began to suffer in the dry conditions, “it began raining like hell and lots of cars went off, and so did I” remembers BS Automotive’s Tomas Kaiser.

Inevitably, the race was red-flagged after 31 of the planned 50 laps. In those days, some rounds were decided by aggregate times from races that were split in two, and Moreno had an advantage of 19s over Streiff, with Tassin and Pirro just behind.

When the race restarted under intensifying rain, it was quickly apparent that Bridgestone’s wet tyres were no match for Michelin’s, which suddenly came into their own.

As Danner relates: “When the rain started, everybody thought that Bridgestone would walk away with it, because they’ve got such good wet tyres, but come the wet weather, the Michelin was so superior it was unbelievable. Nobody could believe that a standard customer tyre from Michelin was able to beat the wonderful wet tyre from Bridgestone.”

The front page of the race programme

Not just beat but annihilate. Moreno had been demoted to seventh on-the-road in under a lap and within just four Streiff had completely overhauled the deficit from before the red flags to take the aggregate race lead.

Michel Ferte was flying in his Martini-BMW, passing Kaiser for second on-track and beginning to chase after Streiff with his car control in the torrential rain a sight to behold. He was just 1.3s down on Streiff when the clerk of the course called an end to the race, the championship and ultimately European F2 three laps earlier than scheduled.

Ferte had overhauled a one-and-a-half minute gap to Moreno to take second overall, with Moreno just 2.46s ahead of the remarkable Kaiser on aggregate, who had been outstanding in the wet conditions.

Kaiser remembers that a spectating Keke Rosberg complimented him on his race “and that made me very happy”, and team boss Bob Sparshott was so impressed with my “coming onto the main straight with opposite lock” that he kept talking about it for their next two seasons together in Int. F3000.

Bell came home in a respectable ninth. “All I remember was it rained. I was usually good at the rain,” he told Formula Scout.

“John Watson was there to watch it and he was a good friend of mine and he said ‘DB, don’t forget drive in a longer gear’ to use third where you normally would be spinning wheels in second in the wet. I mean, I always did that anyway, because I’d learned that in my early days in sportscars. I don’t know where I finished, but I did finish.”

Sadly, Streiff and Ferte are no longer alive. Streiff made his F1 debut with Renault a month after Brands Hatch, then reurned to AGS for the 1985 Int. F3000 season. The team later made it to F1 too, and Streiff was its sole driver in 1988. He never got to race the team’s updated car for 1989 as a pre-season testing crash at Autodromo Nelson Piquet left him paralysed and in a wheelchair until his death in 2022.

Photo: Roger Gascoigne

Ferte went on to take nine F3000 podiums and was 1991 Le Mans 24H runner-up. He passed away in 2023 after a long illness.

Thackwell [pictured above] was the dominant final champion of European F2, and his reward at the end of 1984 was two races in CART. But instead of tackling single-seaters’ top tier in 1985, he instead continued with Ralt. He won the inaugural F3000 race at Silverstone, and despite a further two wins, three second places and six poles he missed out on the title to Danner.

From 1980 to 2009, Thackwell held the record for being the youngest ever driver to race in F1. But after his debut aged 19 he only attempted to qualify for three more races and in 1987 turned his back on motorsport aged 26.

Moreno went to Japanese F2, CART, then returned to Ralt in ’87 to race in Int. F3000. He won the Mediterranean GP that year, and the title in 1988 with Bromley Motorsport. His F1 career was spent mostly with underfinanced teams, but enjoyed a brief spell at Benetton where he made the podium before being rudely dumped to make way for Michael Schumacher.

Pirro spent three years in F1 before conquering touring car racing and then sportscars with Audi, for whom he won the Le Mans 24H five times. He was director of McLaren’s Driver Development Programme for a year, responsible for bringing in current F2 points leader Gabriel Bortoleto, and after leaving the role this April joined the FIA to become president of its Single-Seater Committee.

Tassin [pictured below] retired from the cockpit in 2002 but maintainted his links to BMW, and is now sporting director for W Racing Team which runs the BMW M Hybrid V8 hypercar in the World Endurance Championship.

After his F2 return, Bell won Le Mans another two times and became a two-time World Sportcar champion.

Photo: BMW

Kaiser continued into F3000 with BS Automotive, and in ’87 came close to getting into F1 after putting together a deal with Jackie Oliver to race for Arrows. However there were complications in getting the required superlicence, so before signing with Arrows went to see Ecclestone, then at the helm of Brabham as well as the Formula One Constructors’ Association.

“During that chat, Bernie said: ‘No, you’re not driving for Jackie Oliver, you’re driving for me. So we’re going to the workshop, we’ll do the seat and you’re going to be in one of the best cars and team-mate to Riccardo Patrese.’”

Ecclestone assured Kaiser that he and Max Mosley would sort out the superlicence problem, and hatched an elaborate plan for Kaiser to turn up in Brazil for the first race “’just with a plain white helmet and we’ll see where you end up’”.

Still without the superlicence, and seeing Andrea de Cesaris occupying Brabham’s second car, he flew back to Europe.

At the same time, he had been in discussions with Eddie Jordan to “prepare a F3000 car for Silverstone in case I wouldn’t be in the F1 car”. Though he joined Jordan for 1987, he realised his “head was in F1, and my arms and legs were in a F3000 car”. After half a season he left Jordan to reunite with BS Automotive, before ending his racing career to focus on supporting Swedish athletes through the Hello Sweden organisation, whose colours he carried in 1984.

So, a championship that had produced so many F1 drivers came to a damp, premature and rather ignominious end. Despite the criticism, it had nevertheless played a key role in developing many top drivers.

“A sad day. Not in that very moment, because nobody really knew what was coming,” dwelled Pirro.

“Personally, I recall it as a good season because the car we had, the March, was a very good car, so from a driving standpoint, I really enjoyed it. With hindsight, it took really quite some time before the F3000 became a nice car to drive, and F2 was, in my opinion a really great category, nimble cars, very strong engines, high [revs per minute].

Emanuele Pirro

“F2 played an instrumental role as the footstep of F1, so it took a while until F3000 got this heritage, and so with hindsight it was a sad day because it was the end of a wonderful chapter.”

Unsurprisingly, given his 1985 title success, Danner feels positively about the end of the first of F1’s primary feeder series and the start of the second: “In ‘84 I had a good year in F2, but it wasn’t a winning year because of [Ralt-Honda superiority]. So, for me it was good that F3000 came because then I could actually finally benefit from what I learned the hard way in F2.”

One time when testing the F3000 car at Snetterton, engineer Ralph Bellamy proposed an idea to Danner.

“[Bellamy proposed] ‘we try something which I think is going to be the future of flat bottom racing cars’, and he put rake in the car. I just couldn’t believe the difference it made to have the rake in the car and therefore have more aerodynamic downforce.”

The change from F2 to F3000 entailed more than larger engines and a name change. F2 cars utilised ground effect to create downforce, while F3000 had flat-bottomed machinery. Eventually ground effect was outlawed across all of single-seaters.

Both concepts had their positives, as Kaiser explains: “It was a fantastic car to drive because it was doing ground effects and when you got things right with the sliding skirts under the side pods, it was just a fantastic car to drive but on the other hand when it changed to F3000, you got Cosworth engines and no ground effect so that was very spectacular also to drive, but it was totally different.”

Int. F3000 ran until 2004, and as a spec series from 1996 onwards, then it was replaced on F1’s support bill by GP2. That also had spec chassis and engine suppliers, but it briefly held category status when its second and third-generation cars were used in multiple series from 2008 to 2011, then in 2017 the FIA became more involved and rebranded GP2 as F2.

The F2 name would not be revived for the premier second-tier championship until 2017, by which time spec cars were de rigueur across junior single-seaters.

Most round wins in European F2

The post How and why European F2 went out in a splash 40 years ago appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Penske

Gil de Ferran, 1992 British Formula 3 champion, double IndyCar champion and winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500, has died in the United States.

According to media reports, de Ferran suffered a heart attack while competing with his son at an event in Florida.

De Ferran was born in Paris in 1967, moving to Brazil when he was four. After winning the Brazilian Formula Ford championship in 1987 he followed the path of Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna to Britain. Running Alan Cornock’s Fulmar Reynard he finished third in both the British and Esso championships in 1989, before being signed by Paul Stewart Racing for dual British and European campaigns in Formula Vauxhall/Opel Lotus in 1990.

Though he beat team-mate David Coulthard in both, championship success eluded him as Vincenzo Sospiri and Rubens Barrichello took the titles.

For 1991, de Ferran moved up to F3 with Edenbridge Racing, helping the team to develop the out-of-favour Reynard 913 and taking three wins. For 1992 his hard work in sorting the Reynard chassis paid dividends as, reunited with PSR, he dominated the British championship.

He stayed with PSR for his graduation to Formula 3000 in 1993, taking three wins in two seasons and a championship best of third in 1994.

Despite two brief outings in contemporary Formula 1 cars, which were too insubstantial to even merit being considered tests, there were no openings to move up with Barrichello and Coulthard, so de Ferran made the move to the USA and IndyCar.

His big break came when he joined Penske Racing in 2000, winning the IndyCar title in his first season with the team and doubling up the following year. He bowed out of driving single-seaters at the end of 2003, having notched up his only Indianapolis 500 win in his final season.

Having become a team owner, he made a brief reappearance behind the wheel of one of his own team’s Acuras in the American Le Mans Series in 2008 and 2009, maintaining his strong links with Honda.

On the other side of the pit wall, he was BAR Honda’s Sports Director in F1 from 2005 to 2007, and sporting director of McLaren from 2018 to 2021, renewing his links with the team in 2023.

In a statement Roger Penske paid tribute to de Ferran, who “defined class as a driver and as a gentleman. As an IndyCar champion and an Indianapolis 500 winner, Gil accomplished so much during his career, both on and off the track.”

David Salters, president of Honda Racing Corporation USA paid tribute to his “special place in all our hearts,” adding that “Gil was a big part of the Honda racing family and CART heritage…He was an extremely talented man and brilliant racer.”

In its statement, McLaren commented on de Ferran as “an important and integral part of our Racing team [who] made a lasting impact on everyone racing and working alongside him.”

Formula Scout extends its deepest sympathies to his family, wife Angela and children Luke and Anna, his friends and colleagues from the motor-racing community.

The post F3 and IndyCar champion Gil de Ferran dies aged 56 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Super Formula

Super Formula Lights race-winner Ren Sato has been selected as one of Honda’s drivers for Super Formula this year, and will race for Team Goh.

The 20-year-old is one of the marque’s junior drivers, winning the 2019 Japanese Formula 4 title for its own Honda Formula Dream Project team then coming second in French F4 before returning to his home country last year.

Sato raced in SF Lights with Toda Racing, which had switched to Spiess power and become a frontrunning force as a result, and won five races en route to third in the points.

Honda also gave him a Super GT300 drive with Team Aguri, but his season in sportscars ended badly as he angered Honda’s management in the Super GT finale when he crashed into reigning overall champion Naoki Yamamoto.

It cost himself a shot at the GT300 crown he was fighting to win, and denied Team Kunimitsu, their drivers Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino, and Honda itself the back-to-back GT500 titles they were on course to win for the first time.

Sato apologised profusely for the clash, and Honda hasn’t lost faith as it handed him his first SF chance in post-season testing at Suzuka and he did all three days in the car co-run by Team Mugen and Goh. He was fastest on the rookie-only day.

He will now step up to the professional ranks with a SF seat at a restructured Goh, which won the 2004 Le Mans 24 Hours and co-ran Alex Palou in his rookie IndyCar season in 2019, as it has ended its cooperation with Mugen and will instead field two cars of its own.

B-MAX Racing is also expanding to two cars, and has retained former Formula 2 star Nobuharu Matsushita as its first driver but is yet to announce its second. Matsushita has been brought back into the Honda fold for 2022.

Iori Kimura and Kakunoshin Ohta, who came third and fifth in Japanese F4 last year as Honda juniors, have been handed sportscar seats in Super GT300. Ohta will race for Team UpGarage in a Honda NSX GT3 Evo, taking the place of SF Lights champion Teppei Natori who is anticipated to move to Formula 2, and Kimura replaces Sato at Aguri.

Both will also race in SF Lights, and this time Kimura takes the seat vacated by Sato as he joins Toda while Sato goes to B-MAX.

The recipients of the 2021 Suzuka Racing School-Formula scholarships have gained Honda junior status too for 2022, and are being supported by Red Bull too as they move to French F4. At the same time, the SRS has been renamed and becomes the Honda Racing School.

The post Honda gives Ren Sato redemption opportunity with Super Formula seat appeared first on Formula Scout.

The Regional Formula 3 series is powered by the manufacturer’s engines, and last year the partnership resulted in a similar scholarship where the 2020 champion – Linus Lundqvist – was financially supported by Honda Performance Development for a move into Indy Lights.

Now the Honda Motor Company itself in Japan will be involved, and the idea behind the scholarship is to follow the path of Honda-linked driver Alex Palou who raced in SF for one season in 2019 using Honda power and then moved into IndyCar.

“I am very pleased with this new program as it is a collaboration between HPD and Honda Motor Company for a true global driver development programne,” said John Whiteman, HPD’s commercial motorsports manager.

“This past year, Alex Palou demonstrated that Super Formula can fully prepare a driver for IndyCar racing success. Progressing from Formula Regional Americas to Super Formula can be a clear, fully Honda-powered path to IndyCar.”

After taking a podium in his rookie IndyCar season, Palou has landed a seat at Honda’s top team Chip Ganassi Racing for 2021.

“What an amazing scholarship” said Palou. “I’m sure it’s going to be the strongest and most successful scholarship, and it’s much needed for so many drivers nowadays.

“The racing level in the Super Formula series is really high and demanding for a driver. You can then use all that experience in IndyCar.

“I’ve been lucky enough to get to experience the highest level of racing in Japan and now in the US, and I can’t thank enough Honda, Dale Coyne and Team Goh for the amazing opportunity of becoming an IndyCar driver, now with Chip Ganassi at the highest level.

“I’m now facing the best moment of my career driving for the most successful team in the championship. I can’t wait to share track with the next Honda Scholarship Champion!”

The post FRegional Americas champion to get scholarship for Super Formula appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Super Formula Lights

French Formula 4 runner-up and 2019 Japanese F4 champion Ren Sato will race in Super Formula Lights and Super GT300 this year.

Sato takes the place of fellow Honda junior Teppei Natori in Toda Racing’s sole Dallara 320 in SF Lights, and will race a Honda NSX GT3 Evo for Team UpGarage in Super GT’s secondary class.

The two drives were announced in Honda’s annual motorsport reveal, where Ayumu Iwasa was also revealed to be racing in FIA Formula 3 Championship and Asian F3 with Hitech GP this year. Iwasa is set to be officially confirmed as a Red Bull junior in the coming days.

Also getting a sportscar seat is Natori, who takes the place of Toshiki Oyu at Team Aguri as the Super Formula race-winner moves up to the top GT500 class to join Ukyo Sasahara in Team Mugen’s NSX GT500.

Honda’s top domestic junior Tadasuke Makino is switching from Nakajima Racing to Dandelion Racing for his third year in Super Formula, swapping places with the manufacturer’s three-time series champion Naoki Yamamoto.

Tatiana Calderon has also been confirmed to be remaining with ThreeBond Racing with Drago Corse for a second season. The Colombian, who is the third female driver in SF history, took a best finish of 12th from her five starts as a rookie in 2020.

B-MAX Racing is set to end its alliance in SF with Euroformula dominator Motopark, after travel restrictions limited the German squad’s presence in Japan during the second season of its partnership last year. The two teams partnered up at the start of 2019, although its SF Lights collaboration only lasted one season due to difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The post Honda junior Ren Sato gets Super Formula Lights and Super GT seats appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Reigning French Formula 4 champion Ayumu Iwasa will race in Asian Formula 3 and the FIA F3 Championship this year as a Red Bull junior.

The Japanese teenager’s 2021 programmes were announced on Friday morning by Honda, which he is an official junior driver of.

He is expected to be joined by other members of the Red Bull Junior Team in Hitech’s line-ups for both series, with Igor Fraga set to also commit to a double programme with the team after his attempted move to the British squad at the end of last year.

• Scout Report: Ayumu Iwasa & Ren Sato

Iwasa began his car racing career with a Formula Renault Asiacup cameo at Shanghai in 2017, taking a double pole and two second places, and also debuted in Japanese F4 later in the year.

In 2018 he made one Japanese F4 appearance and scored points, then spent the year after focused on racing in Suzuka Racing School’s own single-seater series. He won the title there, and got his first taste of sportscars in Super Taikyu.

Iwasa was brought into Honda’s junior stable and sent to France along with Japanese F4 champion Ren Sato for 2020, and beat his compatriot to the title.

The French F4 champion usually becomes a Renault junior, although Iwasa’s Honda allegiance prevented that, and he has been linked to Red Bull since last December. Formula Scout reported on his signing by Red Bull earlier this week after speaking to those involved, with a press statement from Red Bull confirming Iwasa as a junior expected to be imminent.

The post New Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa to race in Asian and FIA F3 for Hitech appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: All-Japan Formula 3000

The probability that Yuki Tsunoda will race in F1 next season, or even in 2022, is sky-high. He’s backed by Red Bull and Honda, but manufacturer support doesn’t guarantee a seat. Just ask these fellow Japanese talents

At 20 years of age, Yuki Tsunoda has rocketed up the European single-seater ladder: In 2018 he dominated the FIA’s Japanese Formula 4 championship in his second full season of competition, but then jumped straight over to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2019 and massively outperformed the potential of a struggling Jenzer Motorsport squad – taking a win at Monza and all 67 of the team’s points for the season. At the same time, he was starring for Motopark in Euroformula.

And in 2020, of course, Tsunoda has been a revelation for Carlin, in amongst Formula 2’s strong rookie class: two victories, two poles, third in the standings with two rounds to go. He originally needed a top-four position to secure an FIA superlicense for Formula 1, although the requirements have been relaxed going into 2021 amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

He’s already privately tested for AlphaTauri, will do so again, and in all likelihood will partner Pierre Gasly at the team next year. If and when that happens, Tsunoda will be the 18th Japanese driver to enter a F1 world championship race.

Hiroshi Fushida was the first to make an attempt in 1975. Noritake Takahara, Masami Kuwashima, Masahiro Hasemi, and Kazuyoshi Hoshino were the local heroes on the grid for the famous 1976 Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway, and Kunimitsu Takahashi joined for the 1977 race. But it wasn’t until Satoru Nakajima debuted in 1987 that Japan had its first full-time F1 driver, making him a national racing hero.

Aguri Suzuki became Japan’s first F1 podium finisher, on home soil too, later to be joined by Takuma Sato and Kamui Kobayashi in the 21st century. Ukyo Katayama became the most experienced Japanese driver through the 1990s, but Naoki Hattori, Toshio Suzuki, Hideki Noda and Taki Inoue suffered much shorter and far less prosperous tenures in F1. In the late ‘90s, Nakajima protege Toranosuke Takagi and Shinji Nakano each showed flashes of brilliance, but neither stuck around.

The 2000s gave us Sato, Kobayashi and Kazuki Nakajima, the first second-generation Japanese driver in F1, but it also gave us Yuji Ide and Sakon Yamamoto.

Being able to race in F1 at all was a terrific accomplishment for all of these drivers, no matter what their results were. Recently Honda has sent many young drivers to Europe, and they haven’t reached F1: Nobuharu Matsushita has won many races in F2, Nirei Fukuzumi and Tadasuke Makino got to F2 too but couldn’t stay, Teppei Natori won in Euroformula, and what will the future hold for 2020 French F4 dominators Ayumu Iwasa and Ren Sato once Honda leaves F1 again at the end of 2021?

And while there was no racing abroad, two-time Super Formula champion Naoki Yamamoto was courted by Red Bull last year too.

Toyota’s F1 withdrawal at the end of 2009 meant its strong young driver programme academy will likely never send a driver to F1 again. The likes of current factory drivers Ryo Hirakawa, Kenta Yamashita, Sho Tsuboi, and Ritomo Miyata (and even Franco-Argentinian SF signing Sacha Fenestraz) all have the talent to be F2 frontrunners with a legitimate shot at an F1 seat.

Of all the Japanese drivers that never got to race in the pinnacle of single-seaters, but certainly had a legitimate chance of doing so at the peak of their abilities, who were the ones that demonstrated most what F1 was missing out on?

From the start of post-war Japanese motorsport all the way through to the 2010s, these are 10 of the best who didn’t make it:

Tetsu Ikuzawa 「生沢徹」

Ikuzawa was a national racing trailblazer. When he quit his factory racing contract with Prince Motor Company, and headed to the United Kingdom to race in the 1966 British F3 Championship, Ikuzawa became the first Japanese driver to race full-time in a European championship. He spent his first two seasons with Stirling Moss’ Motor Racing Stables, and picked up his first three wins in club races in 1967. Frank Williams hired Ikuzawa for ’68 and he enjoyed a breakthrough season with four wins taking him to fourth in the standings.

In 1970, Ikuzawa made the step up to F2 as a privateer, and in just his second European championship race at Hockenheim he came 0.3 seconds away from beating Clay Regazzoni to victory. It should have been the start of a journey that would make him the first Japanese driver in F1, but without the resources to match the more established European teams, it was high water for Ikuzawa. A move to Group Racing Developments in ‘72 had him sinking down the field, and he made the difficult decision to call time on his F1 racing ambitions in 1973, finishing his full-time driving career in Japan. By then, Ikuzawa had a young successor who was on a path to achieve what he came just short of accomplishing.

Hiroshi Kazato 「風戸裕」

Breaking into motorsport as a teenager, Hiroshi Kazato quickly grew to become one of Japan’s very best drivers in the early 1970s. After rapid domestic success in his privately-owned Porsche 910 and 908, Kazato made the brave leap to America to race in the Can-Am Series, and put in a strong account of himself as a 22-year-old rookie in a Carl Haas Lola-Chevrolet.

He came close to signing for the factory March team to race in European F2 in 1972, before being outbid by a young Austrian driver called Niki Lauda. Instead, Kazato raced a privateer March for Peter Bloore in ‘72, then became team-mates with his hero Ikuzawa in ‘73 for GRD Team Nippon – where Kazato regularly outperformed his more experienced countryman.

Kazato’s European F2 breakthrough came at Hockenheim in 1973, where he finished sixth. Two rounds later he was classified fifth at the iconic Monza Lottery Grand Prix, and he ended the season 23rd in the points.

For 1974, Kazato signed a contract with Chevron to drive for its works team as the second driver to James Hunt. But before he could ever make his debut with the team, Kazato’s life was tragically cut short in his last race before returning to Europe.

Kazato and veteran driver Seiichi Suzuki were killed in a multi-car accident in a sportscar in the Fuji Grand Champion Series (Fuji GCS). He was just 25 years old. The accident caused Fuji Speedway to permanently close its infamous 30-degree banked corner section. More importantly, one of Japan’s greatest drivers was taken down before he could realise his full potential.

Keiji Matsumoto 「松本恵二」

Hoshino and Nakajima were the Senna and Prost of Super Formula through the late 1970s and early 1980s. If anyone filled the Mansell/Piquet role during that time, as the one man who could consistently threaten their duopoly on the track, it was the smooth-driving, swashbuckling Keiji Matsumoto, who spent 16 seasons in the series as it evolved through F2 and Formula 3000 regulations from 1976 to 1992, winning 11 races and the 1979 title – by just a single point over Hoshino.

Matsumoto also thwarted Hoshino in a close fight for the 1983 Fuji GCS crown, but then the two joined forces in 1985 to win the infamous rain-blasted Fuji 1000km, making them and the late Akira Hagiwara the first Japanese drivers to win in the World Endurance Championship and at the peak of the Group C era.

Appearing on adverts of all kinds for Japanese tobacco brand Cabin made Matsumoto a popular, marketable (and handsome) superstar at home, but by the time Nakajima was on his way to racing in F1 at the age of 34, Matsumoto was already 38 and beginning his decline in the Super Formula ranks.

Matsumoto’s age was likely why he never received a legitimate offer from a F1 team. When he hung up the helmet at the end of ‘92, he spent his second career mentoring a generation of future superstar drivers – among them, Nakano, Juichi Wakisaka, and Ryo Michigami, were all disciples of ‘Matsumoto-ism’ in the years to come. Keiji Matsumoto passed away in 2015 after a battle with cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), and his presence is still missed to this day.

Hitoshi Ogawa 「小河等」

Photo: Nakai’s Scribble blog

Japanese drivers tend to be stereotyped as borderline reckless chargers, but Hitoshi Ogawa was so consistent and collected, that he became known as the ‘Japanese Prost’ or the ‘Japanese Boutsen’ during his peak years in single-seaters, touring cars, and Group C prototypes.

Within open wheelers, Ogawa spent the early to mid-’80s bouncing between Japanese F3 (now known as Super Formula Lights) and Super Formula, before finally settling into the top tier in 1988, and establishing his reputation for his sweet, cerebral driving ability. Ogawa only ever won once, but his famous victory in the penultimate round of the 1989 season at Suzuka proved to be the difference as he held off American Ross Cheever to take the title by just three points.

Off the back of his success in Japan, Ogawa was reportedly offered a F1 contract by two teams – the struggling Team Lotus, and upstart Minardi. Ogawa’s brief window for an F1 step-up was closed, however, when he couldn’t find the sponsors to secure a drive.

Two years later, on May 24 1992, he was involved in an accident with Andrew Gilbert-Scott in a SF race at Suzuka, which sent both cars plunging into the fence at the first corner. Ogawa died of severe head and neck injuries, aged 36. This came just a month after he took Toyota’s first WEC win at Monza, and a month before he was scheduled to start the Le Mans 24 Hours for the fourth time in his career.

Akihiko Nakaya 「中谷明彦」

Nakaya, still searching for an F1 seat in 2017

Akihiko Nakaya is not alone in being refused his application for an FIA superlicence – a similar fate befell fellow F1 prospect Katsumi Yamamoto, and of course, there’s the infamous tale of Ide’s superlicence being revoked four races into his career. But Nakaya arguably had the skill to at least give a good account of himself for what resources a cash-strapped Brabham F1 Team were preparing for him in 1992.

After all, Nakaya had been Japanese F3 champion in 1988, and won Super Formula’s first race at Autopolis in 1991. Nakaya also supplemented his single-seater successes with several victories in touring cars.

As Brabham were preparing for an uncertain ’92 season, they signed Nakaya to partner Eric van de Poele. But the FIA denied Nakaya’s superlicence application, having thumbed their nose towards Nakaya’s accomplishments in Japan, after showing no such hesitation for his peers such as Nakajima and Suzuki before him.

Nakaya, then 34, went straight back to SF and survived a terrible accident in the Suzuka season opener (just two months before Ogawa’s fatal crash), and arguably this began a freefall for Nakaya at the highest levels of racing. While he won the second tier of the Japanese Touring Car Championship alongside Gilbert-Scott in 1993, and is still semi-active in pro-am sportscar racing even in his 60s, his single-seater career ended after 1994, two years on from having the F1 door slammed shut.

The FIA’s decision looked worse in retrospect upon Giovanna Amati’s failure to qualify for the first three races of the ’92 F1 season after being named Nakaya’s replacement. She was then replaced by a young Damon Hill.

Nakaya is still technically a professional driver, but not a racer, as he’s a full-time automotive journalist who does driving reviews of new cars on his own YouTube channel.

Juichi Wakisaka 「脇阪寿一」

Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing

If you’ve ever watched Super GT, Japan’s premier sportscar series of the 21st century, you likely know Juichi Wakisaka as a legendary driver – a three-time top-tier champion behind the wheel – and more recently, as a charismatic, expressive, and successful team manager, the series’ equivalent to the Premier League’s Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola.

All of these title, including his 2019 success as manager of Team LeMans, came after he signed with Toyota at the start of the 2001 season. But in fact, it was Honda who gave him his first chance in Super GT’s top GT500 class – and it was Mugen-Honda who gave him his one and only F1 opportunity.

Wakisaka succeeded Pedro de la Rosa as Japanese F3 champion in 1996, and in 1997 he succeeded F1-bound Nakano at Dome Racing with Mugen in SF, under team director Matsumoto.

As a result of this seat, he got a one-off opportunity to test for Dome’s aborted F1 project in ‘96, and it was the Dome-Mugen connection that gave Wakisaka a F1 test driver role with Jordan in 1998.

Wakisaka attended Jordan’s grand launch at the Royal Albert Hall in London, got a handful of in-season tests in the race-winning 198 car, but after the conclusion of the season was dropped and never found his way onto another F1 squad.

He spent the remaining years of his racing career in the top Japanese championships – five victories from eight seasons in SF, and of course, the three Super GT title that led to him being nicknamed ‘Mr Super GT’ by the end of his career in 2015.

Satoshi Motoyama 「本山哲」

Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing

Only Kazuyoshi Hoshino has ever won more in SF than Satoshi Motoyama, a 27-time race-winner. And only Hoshino and Nakajima have more title than Motoyama’s four. And in 2003, while honouring his late childhood friend and MotoGP rising star Daijiro Kato, Motoyama became only the second driver in history (and presently one of just four) to win the Super GT and SF titles in the same year. But unlike Hoshino and Nakajima, Motoyama never had a chance to race in F1 during his career peak.

His 2003 success led him to an in-season F1 test appearance with Jordan on the eve of the Japanese GP at Suzuka, where he was within a second of incumbent Ralph Firman in the one and only time he’d ever drive the team’s EJ13 car in anger.

Two months later he joined Renault for post-season testing at Jerez, a convenient tie-up with Motoyama as the star factory driver for Nissan in Super GT and a representative of the manufacturer since 1996, and Nissan being part of the same automotive group as Renault.

His laptimes were modest in comparison to Renault’s star driver Fernando Alonso, though there was room for improvement. But with Alonso as the centrepiece of the team and Jarno Trulli still as swift and experienced as ever at that point, Renault had no room for a prospective 32-year-old rookie on their team. And with no ties to Nissan’s Japanese rivals, or deep pockets to buy his way into a Jordan or Minardi seat, Motoyama never again pursued a F1 seat after the winter of 2003.

Success in single-seaters continued though, with the fourth of his SF titles coming in 2005 and still winning in the series in 2007. He remained a Super GT frontrunner until the end of 2018, when Nissan dropped the 47-year-old from its line-up.

That came as a shock within motorsport even beyond Japan’s borders, such was the longevity of Motoyama’s success, but he was promptly signed up as executive advisor of NISMO, Nissan’s motorsport division, and is team principal of B-MAX Racing’s SF programme.

Tsugio Matsuda「松田次生」

Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing

In 1997, three drivers graduated with formula racing scholarships from the Suzuka Circuit Racing School. One was Takuma Sato. One was Toshihiro Kaneishi, who became the only Japanese to win the German F3 title in 2001. The third was 18-year-old Tsugio Matsuda, a local driver and a CIK-FIA Asia-Pacific Karting champion.

Days after his 19th birthday in 1998, he scored points on his SF debut at Suzuka. He raced in Japanese F3 full-time though, and didn’t genuinely step up to SF until 2000. In just his fourth career start, he took his first win at Mine Circuit driving for Satoru Nakajima’s team.

Then Matsuda went on a spell of five seasons without a SF win, but built up momentum as a factory Honda driver in Super GT, narrowly missing out on the 2002 title.

In 2005, Matsuda, now 26, was still one of Honda’s top talents – and off-season rumours suggested that he might be on his way to its F1 programme as a test driver, or to race in GP2 with Honda’s support. Instead, he departed Honda and signed to rival manufacturer Nissan for 2006.

In time, he set the record for the most Super GT wins, with his two titles in 2014 and ’15, and 17 of his 22 victories coming at the wheel of a Nissan. And his SF form did eventually arrive, as he claimed back-to-back titles in 2007 and ’08. But in a downward-spiralling economy and with few vacancies on the grid, Matsuda would never find his way into F1 despite his incredible skill.

Keisuke Kunimoto 「国本京佑」

Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing

Only two Japanese drivers have ever won the Macau Grand Prix: Sato in 2001, and Keisuke Kunimoto in 2008. The latter’s was a milestone victory that followed up being Japanese F3 title runner-up to TOM’S team-mate Carlo van Dam and becoming the youngest ever Super GT300 race-winner, and winning the ultra-competitive Formula Challenge Japan title (the predecessor to Japanese F4) the year before.

As a Toyota junior, Kunimoto was seemingly on the fast track to following Kazuki Nakajima and Kamui Kobayashi to F1.

But just four years later, he had quietly retired from motorsport at the age of 23.

Kunimoto, of Korean descent, was set to be called up by the Carlin-run Team Korea to race in A1GP’s visit to Kyalami in South Africa in February 2009, but a shipping issue prevented his car from being in a condition to be raced.

He did a find a seat in a depleted SF field with Team LeMans that year, but struggled for results as a rookie and finished 13th and last in the standings. After that failure he contested the final two rounds of the Formula Renault 3.5 season and also languished down the field.

By 2010, Toyota was out of F1, and Kunimoto had acrimoniously parted ways with the manufacturer in the off-season.

Instead of accepting a drive in a domestic series, Kunimoto committed to remaining in Europe. The Epsilon Euskadi team that had given him his FR3.5 debut signed him for the full 2010 season, but he only made the points once. And by 2011, with no factory backing, no private sponsors – and no opportunities waiting in Europe or back home in Japanm he had fallen off the radar as quickly as he came on the scene.

His younger brother Yuji has had far more success at the higher levels. After winning the 2010 Japanese F3 title, he’s established a lengthy career in Super GT, won the 2016 SF title and is an outside bet for winning a second this year.

Toru Takahashi 「高橋徹」

Far too many young drivers were killed before they could make an impact in Japanese motorsport, but Toru Takahashi’s all-too-brief career showed enough promise that his peers believed he could have succeeded in F1.

He was 18 when he made his racing debut in 1979. By 1982, he was a title contender in SF, then run to F2 regulations, even outperforming team-mate Aguri Suzuki. It was a Fuji GCS test late that year that caught the attention of Hiroshi Tanaka, owner of SF’s top team Heroes Racing. And with Tanaka’s star driver Hoshino leaving the team to start his own squad, Tanaka made 22-year-old Takahashi his new number one driver for 1983.

In his very first SF race at Suzuka, Takahashi finished second behind reigning champion Nakajima. He qualified on pole position in just his fourth race. With how quickly Takahashi had achieved success, an F1 opportunity surely would have come to him in the near future.

Sadly, on October 23 1983, Toru Takahashi lost his life in the Fuji GCS season finale when his car spun out, went airborne and was crushed against the catch fencing. The crash also killed a spectator and injured three more. There’s no telling what Takahashi would have accomplished in the years to come, and his shortened SF season still resulted in fifth in the points, but like Kazato and too many others before and after his time, fate dealt a fatal blow to his aspirations of future success.

The post 10 outstanding Japanese drivers who never reached F1 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: KSP/FFSA

Rather than follow Yuki Tsunoda into the European Formula 3 scene, Honda’s latest junior exports have taken on French Formula 4 this year – and are absolutely dominating. Meet Ayumu Iwasa and Ren Sato

Honda may be ending its supply of engines to Formula 1 teams after 2021, but there’s a chance one of its proteges could make the step up to the pinnacle of single-seater racing next year – and may still be followed up the European ranks by several more of the Japanese manufacturer’s junior drivers.

Unlike in previous years where it has sent the likes of Nirei Fukuzumi, Tadasuke Makino and of course Yuki Tsunoda abroad at the Formula 3 level, this year it has made use of a new partnership between its own Suzuka Racing School and the FFSA Academy operated by France’s national motorsport federation. This has resulted in some Academy members from karting and Formula 4 testing single-seater cars in Japan, while two of Honda’s SRS graduates are racing in the French F4 championship run by the Academy.

The Renault-powered series has run to FIA F4 specifications since 2018, and was F4 in name for the seven years prior to that, evolving from the Formula Campus-branded Formula Renault 1.6 France championship that began in 1993. For the last two decades the grid has been centrally-run, and while there were individual teams prior to that there was such limited set-up freedom that the distinction between equipment wasn’t anywhere like what’s seen in entry-level single-seaters today.

In essence it’s a series where talent does tend to rise to the top, and as a stepping stone to car racing for drivers from the French karting scene, most champions have been from France or Belgium.

This means most drivers are not only inexperienced, but haven’t been against top opposition if they didn’t kart internationally, which has inevitably helped 2020’s Japanese additions to the grid – both with several years of car racing behind them already.

Ren Sato was last year’s Japanese F4 champion, winning 11 times in 14 races and scoring more than double the points of second place. The three other races were won by his Honda junior team-mates.

It was his second season in the series, having debuted in 2018 and claimed two top-five finishes on the way to seventh in the points. During 2019 he made his French F4 debut in a guest appearance at Magny-Cours, but did’t make the top 10.

Ayumu Iwasa meanwhile made Japanese F4 cameos for two years before switching his focus to the Honda-powered SRS-Formula for 2019. His success in that earned him a scholarship – awarded by two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato – that he’s taken to France and put to good use as he leads Sato (no relation) by 57 points.

Iwasa has four poles so far, and a canny ability to get to the front in the races when he’s not already starting there.

The two 19-year-olds have continued their non-racing education with the FFSA Academy, and Honda’s placing of the pair in France is to use the series as a springboard to make it to F1.

“Step up in Formula 3 [was the 2021 plan], but Honda’s stopped supplying engines [in F1 for 2022], so I don’t know what we do next,” Sato tells Formula Scout.

It would make sense if they did step up a category soon, with Iwasa saying racing in French F4 has been easy but pointing out “the main difference is the engine” to his Japanese experience.

“It requires you to change your driving style. That’s the main difference,” adds Sato, who also comments on the car being faster than the Dome-designed equivalent in Japan due to being lighter and that the type of asphalt used at tracks in France and Japan differs significantly, adding to the requirement to adjust his driving style for Europe.

Sato has a 73-point margin to Isack Hadjar, who is in third place in the standings, and is enjoying racing on F1 venues like Paul Ricard, Magny-Cours, Spa-Francorchamps and Zandvoort as he admits to being “not good” at the shorter tracks.

Both drivers are good friends off the track, but also trying to find ways to outdo each other on it, and at the end of each round FFSA compiles a report to send to Honda about their performances. According to Sato, there’s a similar level of observation from Honda as if they were racing in Japan.

Despite the ending of Honda’s F1 commitments, both are aiming to race in the world championship in the future, although Sato cedes “it’s difficult” now his main backer will soon stop being linked to any of the teams in that paddock.

An obvious alternative would be Japan’s premier single-seater series Super Formula, where Fukuzumi and Makino have ended up driving using Honda power after making it to Formula 2 when they were sent to Europe, but Sato is unethused by the prospect of racing there.

Iwasa is far more open to the idea of becoming a professional racing driver back in his home country, and he certainly has a preference of making it big in Super Formula over the lucrative contracts of Super GT.

Even without Honda’s F1-focused support, this pair of European racing debutants that between them have won 12 of the 15 races they’ve entered definitely have the foundations to take their success further up the single-seater ladder.

CV

Photo: KSP/FFSA

The post Scout Report: Ayumu Iwasa & Ren Sato appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Joe Portlock / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship

The postponement of the regular junior single-seater seasons due to coronavirus has led to some large ‘what if?’ questions. Formula Scout speculates who could have been on top in May 2020 in a normal world

While it is impossible to give a conclusive answer as to how each championship in motorsport would look without coronavirus’s intervention, the hypothetical title fights that may have transpired still make for a fascinating topic to look at.

There are some series that were set to begin with a clear title favourite in 2020, while there were others that had a fair few competitors in the frame for success and where the new tracks on rescheduled calendars may have changed the picture. Some championships have gone in to this year with a complete reset, making it very difficult to judge who would have the upper hand.

Formula Scout has selected a number of series to focus on the ?what if? scenario. In this discussion between Craig Woollard and Elliot Wood, some series were agreed upon easier than others. The political landscape of the ladder is also an interesting situation. Now, due to the impending economic catastrophe, other issues may be put on the backburner while the cost factor becomes the important story in years to come.

Do you agree, or disagree with our scenarios? Get in contact with your own thoughts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Listen to the podcast?below, or visit Breaker,?Google Podcasts,?Overcast,?Pocket Casts,?RadioPublic,?Castbox, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Formula 2 ? very mixed grid means no clear title favourite

The testing analysis put several names towards the top that. Late returnee Luca Ghiotto (with new team Hitech GP), new Red Bull recruit Jehan Daruvala (Carlin) and Williams-backed Dan Ticktum (DAMS) all starred, and Daruvala may well be emerging as a surprise title leaders in the early races, putting his name firmly in the hat for a 2021 AlphaTauri seat.

However, the nature of the series often means that being the fastest isn’t a guarantee of success. There is a new variable for 2020 in the all-new 18-inch wheels, and new Pirelli tyres designed around them, which could shake up the order up a bit. With a Renault seat now up for offer, Virtuosi Racing’s Guanyu Zhou would likely be upping his game, while ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard might just be getting his name mentioned more around the F1 paddock.

Whether the driver market anarchy would have occurred at this point or not, is up for debate. Had Sebastian Vettel got off to a stellar start, would his Ferrari exit have been decided as early? Would Daniel Ricciardo have left Renault for a revitalised McLaren anyway? For the purposes of this, we are assuming that seats are definitely already up for grabs at Renault, at AlphaTauri (as ever), and at Alfa Romeo Racing over a retiring Kimi Raikkonen and potentially ousted Antonio Giovinazzi.

Five Ferrari juniors are in F2, and one with a familiar surname topped this pack in testing. Giuliano Alesi was best on race pace with new team HWA Racelab, continuing his strong end-of-2019 form. Fellow famous name Mick Schumacher and Virtuosi’s Callum Ilott are both drivers who need big second years, but Robert Shwartzman’s honesty about Prema?s testing suggests leading the points might be unlikely for Schumacher and himself at this point. In fact no Ferrari junior may have won a race.

Jack Aitken, who starred with Campos Racing in 2019 and is now Williams’ Formula 1 reserve driver, may well be driving better than ever but off-season team changes could be denting his title hopes already.

Photo: Joe Portlock/FIA F3

FIA Formula 3 ? Prema far ahead, ART and Hitech chasing

Despite the drivers admitting to struggles, Prema found itself firmly top of the timesheets in pre-season testing. The team has two strong rookies in Formula Renault Eurocup champion Oscar Piastri and Formula Regional European champion Frederik Vesti, and the latter could be on top of the opposition at this point of the year. Sophomore team-mate Logan Sargeant would be keeping him honest, however.

Hitech?s Liam Lawson, who would be hungry to rebound after missing out on a second Toyota Racing Series title, could be the best-placed to challenge the leading team. There may be surprise reversed-grid race two winners, and Lawson’s overtaking ability means he could take one or two, but the titles heading in Prema’s direction could be a forgone conclusion by now.

W Series ? Total uncertainty after one round

W Series? second season would have had only one race so far ? at Russia’s new Igora Drive circuit. Jamie Chadwick predictably got off to a flying start at Hockenheim last year, but that’s not a given this time.

The circuit layout bares some resemblance to Assen, where Emma Kimilainen won in 2019, while Alice Powell charged up to miss out narrowly on victory in the reversed-grid non-championship race.

However, it is a totally open field. The likes of Marta Garcia or one of the new six drivers could start off with victory, and Chadwick is going to have a more challenging second title campaign than her first.

Super Formula ? Yamamoto back on top

Assuming no major hiccups for either, Honda’s lead man Naoki Yamamoto may be edging Toyota’s Nick Cassidy ? who had an unusual off-season. While they would likely be atop the points, several young drivers could have been appearing on the podium.

F1 juniors have a mixed history in Super Formula, and Formula Scout predicts Juri Vips would be performing well at Team Mugen – but whether that’s enough for Red Bull’s intentions is another matter. He’d have Red Bull reserve driver Sergio Sette Camara at B-MAX Racing with Motopark putting the pressure on him within the Honda camp, along with Nakajima Racing’s exciting young line-up of Tadasuke Makino and Toshiki Oyu.

The two local talents could be putting themselves in contention for a Honda-powered seat at AlphaTauri with some strong results, but Kondo Racing’s Toyota protege Sacha Fenestraz – the reigning SF Lights champion – could be the top rookie.

Road to Indy ? Experience wins twice, one rookie star

Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood, who has won an incredible number of races in the past three years, enters Indy Lights as a title favourite off the back of Indy Pro 2000 title success. At this point of the season, the Freedom 100 (worth more points as an oval race) would have just been run, and HMD Motorsports’ returnee Santiago Urrutia would be the likely points leader due to his experience. Robert Megennis (Andretti) and Toby Sowery (Belardi Auto Racing) would surely feature highly for the same reasons. However, Kirkwood may be be able to find momentum that would take him to the title.

IP2000 may already be led by Exclusive Autosport?s rookie Braden Eves, the reigning USF2000 champion, but DEForce Racing?s Parker Thompson is like Urrutia and has an immense amount of winning experience to lean on in his third title attempt.

Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

USF2000 remains a bit more jumbled by May. Jay Howard Driver Development?s Christian Rasmussen is the highest-placed returning 2019 driver, but Pabst Racing, Legacy Autosport, EA and Cape Motorsports all have talented drivers on their books who would be in the mix. Cameron Shields, Prescott Campbell, Reece Gold and Josh Green could all be fighting at the front

Formula Regional Europe ? Prema?s drivers fighting it out

Prema was the team to beat in FREC’s inaugural season, and that seems unlikely to change. In this scenario, Formula Scout predicts Roman Stanek would be currently just on top. His team-mates would fill out the top four, with Arthur Leclerc battling closely and Gianluca Petecof and Oliver Rasmussen not far behind.

Formula Renault Eurocup ? Martins and Aron battling hard

Only a couple of Eurocup rounds would have occurred by now, and 2019 runner-up Victor Martins would be stronger than ever with rapid-looking returning team ART. However, he wouldn?t be having it easy as Mercedes-Benz junior Paul Aron would push him hard as his team-mate. R-ace GP’s trio of Caio Collet, Kush Maini and Petr Ptacek shouldn’t be far behind.

Euroformula ? Total reset makes it impossible to judge

The new Dallara 320 car, and continuing to be an open-engine formula, makes all Euroformula predictions very tough. Any one team or driver could find the sweet spot in the Winter Series, and have carried it in to two very circuits that start the season.

Paul Ricard and Pau would have been run at this point. Motopark’s Cameron Das shone under the radar at Pau last year, and a repeat performance in this weekend’s rain could put him in the title lead. Ex-Renault junior Yifei Ye, also coming across from FIA F3, would probably be the driver pushing him hardest.

Other F3 series standouts

Dario Cangialosi would be strong in Formula Regional Americas, while the emphasis on consistency make BRDC British F3’s picture unclear. Douglas Motorsport’s Kiern Jewiss could be in a tight scrap with Carlin?s Kaylen Frederick at this early stage.

Formula 4 standouts

Many of the Formula 4 championships would only be one round in, and with so many single-seater rookies it’s difficult to predict. If Fortec Motorsports’ Luke Browning repeated his early 2019 form, he could be beating Carlin’s drivers in British F4.

Biggest political stories of 2020

While the current political story is obvious, in the hypothetical non-COVID-19 scenario the ongoing ramblings in Euroformula and F2 about who’s fastest and why would be the big talking point in the paddock. How well Euroformula would be getting on with its Balance of Performance would be under scrutiny, as well as how Europe’s third-tier single-seater series co-exist.

Surprise star of 2020 so far

Daruvala and Lundgaard make up the choices in this discussion. Both would be emerging from the left field as contenders for F1 seats with impressive F2 performances in their rookie campaigns, against some mighty opposition.

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